Gene may hold key to hearing recovery

A recent discovery may explain why noise exposure makes some deaf but not others. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that a gene with a possible role in human longevity may also play a role in protecting outer hair cells in the cochlea from damage by noise.

Noise-induced hearing loss is the most common cause of hearing loss. Approximately one-third of Americans reaching retirement age have hearing loss, but two-thirds do not. Little is understood about why noise damages hearing in some people but not in others, and this gene may explain part of this puzzle.

Of course, while scientists are trying to figure this out, we can all avoid noise-induced hearing loss entirely simply by avoiding exposure to loud noise, or wearing ear plugs if we can’t. The only evidence-based safe noise level to avoid hearing loss remains a time-weighted average of 70 decibels a day, as I wrote about in the American Journal of Public Health earlier this year.